Hey Friends!
As you know, in June, I had the amazing experience of being a part of the Haven conference in Atlanta, Georgia.
I was on the panel of speakers who spoke in the session, “I Like Big Blogs.”
Today, I wanted to share with you a little of what we talked about.
To grow your blog, you need to engage your readers.
To engage your readers, you need to write great blog posts.
So, here are 6 Tips to Writing a Great Blog Post!
1. Create a Great Title.
Titles change the destiny of your posts.
Those few words at the beginning of your blog post can be the difference between the post being read and spread like a virus through the web like a wild fire and it languishing in your archives, barely noticed.
While there will usually only be a handful of words in your post title – they are the most powerful words that you’ll write because for most of your readers the decision as to whether to read the rest of your post rests upon them.
Research has shown that your readers are more likely to read your post if it begins with phrases like…”How to…” or “7 Steps to…” or “10 Tips on…”
Readers want to see that there is a benefit to reading your post.
You also want to write a post title that includes very searchable keywords. “Keywords are important for the long tail life of your blog post as they tell search engines what your blog post is about and will help it to rank highly for those words.” (problogger)
So if you are writing a post about your kitchen makeover, you may not want to tile your post “Y’all are going to freak out when you see my kitchen!” Not many people are going to search that title on google, right? 
Maybe a better title would be, “DIY Kitchen Makeover.”
2. Create Great Content!
Here’s the bottom line…Content is King!
If people come to your blog and do not like what they have read or feel like they haven’t learned anything new, they are more than likely not going to come back.
It is important for you to be knowledgeable about the subject and that your content is informative, engaging, and interesting.
Don’t be too wordy.
Show your personality. Be real and relatable.
Don’t put a post up just because you feel pressure to post. If the content is so-so, you will lose readers. It would be better to publish two GREAT posts a week than 6 mediocre posts.
3. Include Great Pictures!
This is something that I need to work on.
Let’s face it, most of us scan a blog post and look at the pictures before we read the content, right?
If the pictures are dark or small, we are not usually drawn in to read the rest of the post.
But if the pictures are beautiful and inspiring, we want to go back and read more about the subject.
Kevin and Layla, from The Lettered Cottage, are experts at producing beautiful photos for their blog. They even offer online photography classes that you can check out HERE.
If you have beautiful pictures on your blog, they are more likely to get pinned on Pinterest. Pinterest is the number one source for blog traffic right now, so you need to jump on the Pinterest Train. Whoo! Whoo!
Also, if you link your projects to weekly linky parties, you will have a much greater chance of being featured on the host blog if you have great pictures of your project.
I have learned to edit all of my photos before uploading them into my blog. My favorite program to use is Photoscape, but you can use Picmonkey, Picasa, Photoshop and more.
4. Include Lots of Links!
If you want to engage your readers to spend more time on your site, you need to provide links to other posts within your post.
When writing a new post, remember that whenever you mention a previous post or project to hyperlink it to that post.
For example, here is an excerpt from my “embarrassing post” on Sunday…
You may recall that when we renovated our kitchen, we installed new hard wood floors…
If you notice, “renovated our kitchen” is in red because I hyperlinked that text to the post I wrote last year about renovating our kitchen. Readers are able to click on that text and will be able to read another post on my blog. (Did you also notice how I hyperlinked “embarrassing post?”)
Another way to include a link is to share it at the bottom of your post.
For example, when I shared my sister’s laundry room makeover reveal on my blog, I could easily end my post this way…
If you love this makeover reveal, be sure to check out my laundry room makeover that I completed last year! Click on the picture below to view!
Whenever you provide a picture, readers are more likely to click on it and visit that post. I just hyperlinked my picture to the post about my laundry room makeover.
5. End with a Question!
Another way to engage readers is to end your post with a question.
For example, when I am writing a post about using color in my décor, I might want to end my post with the question…
“What is your favorite color to use when decorating your home?”
This is a call to action. Instead of having your readers read your post and leave, ending with a question allows your readers to respond to what they just read.
It also helps you build relationships with your readers. When you connect with you readers, they will continue coming back to your blog time and time again.
(It also helps to write the question in bold letters, or in a larger font, or both!)
6. Watermark your Photos!
Since we are living in a Pinterest world, it is especially important to watermark your photos. If your pictures are pinned or featured on another blog, you want people to be able to find the source of that picture easily.
As you can see, my pictures are watermarked with my blog url.
You only watermark photos with your blog url when it is your own original picture, not someone else’s.
Whenever you are using pictures from another site with in your post, be sure to give credit to that site. If I am using a picture from Better Homes and Garden in my post, I will write “source” beneath the picture and hyperlink it to BHG. (see below)
ALWAYS give credit where credit is due.
I hope you found these Six Tips to Writing a Great Blog Post helpful!
If you could add another tip to this list, what do you think would be #7?
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